The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-01-28
Ine Dreary Existence of some Norwegian
Women.


Inc saeterS are great feature in
| Norwegian life, and in May or early
| June the cattle are driven from the pas
lures in the lower valleys and about the
home farm to the pastures high up IN
the mountains, where they are kept I'M
Til September. One or two girls, the
daughters of the house, go with them.
and remain alone in tho sactcrs, tend
ing the cattle and making butter and
cheese during the endless summer days.
The girls at the saeters lead lonely lives
in the isolated spots that they 90 to,
with only fortnightly visits at tho most
from their relatives or lovers. who take
them provisions and look at the pro-
gress of tho butter and cheese making.
AT the Ask saeter at the end of the
lsterdal We found three women, but
only one of them was young enough to
lit into the pretty picture that one I'M
consciously paints of saeter life. All
three of them came to the door of the
turf-roofed hut and looked an equal
surprise ami welcome when our train
appeared. climbing the last grassy knoll
and leading the ponies by their brides.
Two young heifers stood rs if petrifeG
at our approach, their eyes evidently
not used 10 the spectacle, and then came
slowly toward us with II juvenile curios-
ity so apparent rs to be laughable in
these dumb animals. While the ponies
cropped grass and rested, we feasted
our eyes on the scenery. listened to the
roar of the Isterfoss at the end of the
valley, and watched the afternoon
shadows creeping up the opposite wall
of granite. BY the aid of phrase-book
we conversed with the women in the
saeter, and paid them compliments
when they showed us the jars of
milk and the rolls of butter in the
dairy-room. They showed us the
one living-room where they slept, with
huge chimney IN tho corner with
cavernous fireplace, in which they cook
cd their food, and last they conducted
us to little niche of n room, cleaner
and heater than the dairy-room. if pos
sible, and set on the white pine table
pitchers of such milk as we had never
dreamed of before. We drank glass
after glass of it, pressed some small
coins in their hands, and had our arm
nearly shaken off in return, and then,
urging them to come to America, we
descended the hill and away. We
could see them looking after us rs long
as the little procession was in sight, and
the thought of tho lonely life of those
women made the group in the door
fairly pathetic to us. BY the end of
August life in the high saeters becomes
even moro dreary. A touch of frost
comes to the air, the nights begin to
grow dusk, and then the bears, if there
are any in the neighboring mountains,
are apt to come prowling about the sac
ters at night. Insanity, which in Nor
way affects an amazing proportion of
the inhabitants, is said to be often due
to the solitary, isolated lives that the
women lead ut the saeters in summer,
with so few recreations or lighter amuse-
ments to relieve the strain of melancholy
that comes with the alienation of the
long summer daylight with the dark
winters, and the depression that the
constant presence OF this stupendous
mountain scenery brings. The inter-
marrying of generations in these small
communities and thinly populated re-
gions has added to the evil rs well. In
southern Norway, where the people are
of lighter and gayer temperament,
with more festivals and amusements,
their bright costumes, softer scenery
about them, and living more in villages
Or congregated farm-houses, the per-
centagc of insanity is much less than in
those northern fiords and valleys. -
s,,"v"ssr ss-~s---.